Technical Field
The present invention relates to information spreading and, more particularly, to the estimation of a probability that information will spread in a micro-weblog ecosystem.
Description of the Related Art
Micro-weblogs (or “microblogs”) are becoming an increasingly popular form of information transfer. Users share small pieces of information with the people in their social network. Such information may include status updates, links to articles, or “memes” (including links to images and/or video). Information spread in this fashion can propagate very rapidly through social networks, as individuals share the original post with their own respective networks.
While this form of information propagation is proving to be a very effective way for valuable word-of-mouth information to spread, it is also a viable medium for false rumors and malicious misinformation. Even otherwise benign feedback can take on disastrous proportions for a company that does not respond quickly enough. For example, if a false rumor, a customer complaint, etc., starts on a microblog and spreads on a large scale, it can have a significant impact on the public's perception of the target of the rumor. However, social networks are organic in nature and have a high degree of complexity, making it difficult to predict how quickly and to what extend such information will spread.